Guwahati bomb planting case: Police arrest 2 linkmen from Azara, total arrests rise to 5

Guwahati, Sept 16: In a major breakthrough, the police have arrested two linkmen in the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) bomb planting case in Guwahati, from Azara on Monday.

The duo has been identified as Ashim Adhikari and James Rongpi. According to the police, following a credible tip-off, they were apprehended from a hotel in the area and are currently lodged at the Panbazar Police Station.

With this arrest, the number of people nabbed in connection with the bomb planting in the city has risen to five.

The duo, however, has claimed that the police, unable to apprehend the real culprits, are arresting the wrong people. "We have no links with ULFA, and we didn't plant any bombs. If you don't believe us, I urge the police to make the CCTV footage public," said Adhikari, speaking to the press. 

Notably, this arrest comes a week after the Jorhat police had apprehended an individual in connection with the case from Titabor.

Identified as Manab Kalita, a resident of Kaki in Hojai, he had allegedly confessed to planting of bombs at four locations in the city on Independence Day.

Following interrogation, Kalita was handed over to the Guwahati police and is lodged at the Latasil Police Station, where Joint Commissioner of Police Thube Prateek Vijay Kumar is leading the investigation.

Monday's arrest is suspected to be a result of leads provided by Kalita during his interrogation.

Earlier, on September 4, the Guwahati Crime Branch detained two suspects in connection with the bomb planting in Guwahati. The suspects, identified as Rahul Mohan and Pranab Gogoi, were picked up from Charaideo district and brought to Guwahati for further investigation.

The duo was initially taken to Panbazar Police Station, where the Special Investigating Team (SIT), formed on August 16, interrogated them to establish their involvement in the placement of explosive devices at four locations across Guwahati.

They were later transferred to Latasil Police Station for further questioning, according to police sources.

On August 20, five days after the bomb scare caused panic among Guwahati residents, the case was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

On August 15, ULFA-I claimed that bombs had been planted at more than 20 locations across Assam, including eight spots in Guwahati.

The police quickly recovered Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)-like objects from four locations in the city - Gandhi Basti, Panbazar, Narengi, and Lastgate. Similar devices were also recovered in Sivasagar, Lakhimpur, Nalbari, and Nagaon districts.

In response to the threat, the DGP had constituted an SIT to investigate the matter and announced a reward of ₹5 lakh for any information leading to arrests.